Waiting for Permission to Leave Panamá

Anchored on our own just east of Red Frog Beach Resort on Isla Bastimento (Tues, Oct. 15), we took a siesta and then set out on a late afternoon paddle to explore the mangroves. As the sun was setting, we heard the raspy sound of dolphins blowing and realized we were surrounded! Frolicking around us, arcing one after another with their successive dorsal fins looking like parts of spinning pinwheel, and leaping free of the water and returning with a loud splash, the dolphins were a delight. 

Dolphins every day in the Bocos!

In the evening, after dinner, Peter began a new project, adjusting the autopilot so that it registers a true heading and not course over ground. This boat just fascinates him!

On Wednesday, Oct. 16, we kayaked over to Red Frog Beach Resort. Hidden behind the mangroves, all we could see from afar were the masts of boats on the docks, so we didn’t know what to expect. 

The first thing we saw were sloths in the trees. There was one large one high up and a mother with a baby clinging to her chest closer to the boardwalk. They are so well camouglaged, even having moss and lichen growing on their dingy bark-colored fur.

Sloth in the rainforest

Red Frog Beach seemed to be a hidden resort, seven years old but still in development. Throughout the forest, there are villas and other accommodations (at least, we think there are; I read somewhere on the Internet that things are not going exactly as planned), but walking from the bay side to the white sand Caribbean Sea beach, we saw no buildings after we passed through the reception area and chatted briefly with the dock master. (The marina itself, separately developed and owned by IGY, is fully developed and gorgeous.) This resort is also a preserve for mangroves, rainforest and beaches. The wide access roads for golf carts allowed us to be in the rainforest without hacking our way through.

Red Frog Beach

We only saw a small part of this sprawling resort and few people. The long crescent of white sand at Red Frog Beach (just one of several in the resort) was practically deserted except where there was a beach bar and even that area was sparsely populated. We were fortunate to see a tiny strawberry poison dart frog (Oophaga pumilio), bright red with a few dark spots, which I believe is the male of the species. It was less than inch long, with white feet accenting its bright red body highlighted with dark spots.

Strawberry poison dart frog

On Thursday, Oct. 17, we pulled up anchor and puttered for an hour to another place, dropping the hook in a big open bay surrounded by mangrove cays, just south of Twin Creek on Cayo Nancy. We encountered a squall along the way, suddenly having sustained wind of 24-28 knots for about 20 minutes. Of course, this happened just after we had set the genoa, so it was a mad rush to bring it down as well as the awning under the mast which we had ceased to take down every time we moved because there is usually very little wind here.

I snorkeled in the afternoon but unfortunately saw nothing new, although I always love the yellow and orange cushion stars that are scattered along the sand and grass bottom near the mangroves. Before sunset, we paddled around in the kayak. Sitting on deck after dinner, we noticed that it was virtually silent, without the usual chorus of frogs and insects. The mangroves are rooted in the salt water, and even though the cays are sometimes quite large, there is no solid ground, so frogs and other animals do not inhabit them. We watched the gibbous waning moon seem to explode over the eastern horizon into the black sky, where the clouds had mostly cleared to reveal an array of stars.

On Friday morning, Oct. 18, we headed back to Bocas Town to check out of Panamá, once again joined by dolphins on the way. It is not as easy as we expected. All the paperwork cannot be done here, so Peter had to take a water taxi to a larger town, Almirante, to clear out with the Panamanian maritime authority. When he returns, we hope that the port authority and the immigration office here in Bocas will still be open. We plan to leave tonight for San Andrés, Colombia, a trip which will take us a couple of days, but we are now at the mercy of the schedules and whims of the authorities, and, since today is Friday, we may have to wait until Monday since I am sure the offices are not open on the weekend. (They take a three-hour lunch break on weekdays, for heaven’s sake!)

So, I enjoyed a delicious vegetarian burrito at the waterfront restaurant Pier 19 and I am loitering here, drinking Diet Cokes and using the Internet until Peter returns. It’s 1:30 and he is still in Almirante, and we were told the port authority is closing at 3 p.m. today!